1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improvements in an automatic bag loading and heat sealing machine, and wherein two or more articles may be placed in a bag and the bag heat sealed and cooled prior to releasing the bag on a transport conveyor.
2. Description of Prior Art
More specifically, this invention relates to improvements in automatic loading and bagging machines of the type described in Canadian Patent No. 925,480 issued on May 1, 1973. In that particular patented machine, milk pouches were fed to a collator and were placed in various compartments by gravity-operated chutes. The articles were then dispensed in a bag which, upon placement of articles therein, ripped itself from wicker pins and fell onto a conveyor to be conveyed for further processing. A major disadvantage of that apparatus is that it is slow and problematic. For example, when an open bag is conveyed with products therein, it often occurs that the product will fall out of the bag and sometimes result in machine shut-down in order to clean out the spilled convents. This is time-consuming, requires constant supervision, and is costly.
Another problem with bag loading machines employing heat sealers is that the bag is usually released on the discharge conveyor immediately after the heat seal is made. Because the plastic in the sealed region is still in a molten state, it often occurs that the seal becomes undone and this causes the contents of the bag to fall out. This is particularly true when the bag contains very small articles such as sand or grain as only a small opening in the fused area will cause the product to leak out of the bag.